Smokey Ms. Pac suggestions?

gfschn01

Active member
Joined
Feb 10, 2002
Messages
638
Reaction score
46
Location
Louisville, Kentucky
Got a steal of a deal on a Ms. Pac, but the game has a slight cig aroma from being in a smokers basement. Can anything be done besides hanging an air freshener from the joystick?

Thanks!
 
I'd wipe it down inside and outside, over time it should go away. Smoke smell is nasty and hard to get rid of, it's impossible to do in a car. I had a work truck that someone smoked in before I got it, I stripped the seat out and used a gallon of simple green on the inside of that thing. a few days later the smell was back. I drove that thing for 3 years and it never went away, hopefully it'll clear out for you.
 
You need an enzyme based solution to get the smell out. The smoke particles have permeated the wood and it will continue to shed the smell for years to come.

Get to a pet store and find an enzyme based pet odor eliminator, and spray down the entire cab with it, inside and out. Multiple times. Of course, this means you'll need to gut the entire thing.

I assume, of course, that you've already wiped down every 'non-wood' surface inside and out. You have lots of work ahead of you.

Stinky cabinets are no fun. Most of the time it will be less effort to find another cab and transplant all the parts. You just can't get the smell out some times.

Another alternative would be to wait until warmer weather arrives, and keep the cab outside in the warm sun for several weeks. That should assist the wood in gassing out most of the smoke particles. But you still need to treat it with odor eliminator.

Good luck.
 
Unless your artwork is amazing, I would strip it down to bare wood. Sand down all metal parts. Replacing that lovely smell with paint helps. Everyone is right though, the monitor is probably your main source of smell. The heat from the monitor almost makes the tar/smoke turn to a nice glue on the monitor. Of course cleaning a monitor can be tricky because you could short it or kill yourself.
There is something we have used for smokey car interiors. There is an ozone cleaner you machine you can rent. They do actually help, but you will still need to do some scrubbing and repainting I assume.
Good luck with the restore. I've only restored two cabs, so I'm still a newbie. :)
 
I've had good results using Mean Green and 0000 steel wool to scrub the outside of the cabinet, and quickly wiping it down in sections with paper towels before the cleaner soaks in or drys. Also spray and wipe the harness as well, using compressed air to dry any connectors..

Take that monitor to the car wash, soak it down with Dow Scrubbing Bubbles and Mean Green, and hose it off. Pull the chassis and let it sit over a furnace vent for a couple days before powering it on.

For the inside of the cabinet, I use a Shop Vac attached to the dust port on a 6" DeWalt Orbital Disc Sander, and 120 grit paper. Freshly sanded wood with the dust removed will also help eliminate the smell. Sand the entire insides of the cabinet with the vacuum drawing through the dust collection port, and don't forget to sand the bottom of the cab as well. You'll have a fresh wood surface and will hopefully not smell like anything besides wood.
 
Back
Top Bottom